Help the Aged’s Volunteer IT Mentors for Essex UnITe

Perhaps the most important thing for older people’s quality of life is contact and communication with others in the community.  Many older people find themselves living very far from their families and friends, and have difficulty getting to know people in their new environment, especially if they have mobility problems.  Help the Aged were therefore delighted to be invited by Essex County Council to recruit and train volunteer IT Mentors for residents in sheltered housing schemes in many areas of Essex.  This means bringing people in from the community who would not only teach IT skills for as long as residents required it, but who would also provide an interesting form of befriending which would improve the quality of life for residents.

As founder partners of Essex UnITe Plus, Help the Aged has recruited and trained IT Mentors for six Genesis/Springboard sheltered housing schemes so far in Chelmsford, Colchester, Billericay, Rochford, Harlow and Buckhurst Hill in Essex.

All our volunteer Mentors are CRB checked via Help the Aged, and they all attend an induction session before starting their mentoring role.  Mentors are asked to give one hour of their time a week, and usually work alongside the MillRace IT trainer for the first eight weeks of ‘official resident training’.  After this eight week period Mentors carry on giving support to the resident for as long as it is needed.  Our Mentors range in age from 15 to 65 years old, and from feedback we have had, the project has given volunteers a sense of achievement and involvement too.

IT Mentors can also help residents who have difficulty using computers – those with arthritis in their hands, or who have eyesight problems etc – by sending emails on their behalf.  One of the residents is designated ‘postman’, and they distribute emails received by residents unable to access them for themselves.

By having volunteer IT Mentors, residents have the advantage of continuous learning for as long as they need it.  Mentoring could last up to a year or more, and volunteers usually become firm friends with residents.  Setting up an IT scheme is also a good way of bringing the wider community into care homes and sheltered housing schemes.  Volunteers can keep residents in touch with what goes on in the community, and also as volunteers they gain a sense of purpose through their mentoring.